


Tenalach

by xPhoenixFlamex



Series: syzygy [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Body Dysphoria, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death Fix, Dissociation, Good Uchiha Obito, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, In a canon-style way with Obito, Jinchuuriki Nohara Rin, Minor Character Death, Multi, Nohara Rin Lives, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Relationship, Team Minato-centric, Team as Family, Uchiha Obito-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-22 03:38:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14299956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xPhoenixFlamex/pseuds/xPhoenixFlamex
Summary: [Tenalach (Irish): A word used in the hills and mountains in the west of Ireland. It points to a relationship one has with the land/air/water, a deep connection that allows one to literally hear the earth sing]Imagine what would have happened if Obito had just been a bit faster. If Rin had fought the Three Tails a bit harder.  If Kakashi had analyzed the situation more accurately. If Minato arrived at the scene in time.If Madara’s plan hadn’t worked out as well as it did that fateful day.Or, they aren’t in hell. Not quite yet, at least.





	1. just one mistake is all it will take

**Author's Note:**

> For the "Additional Warnings Apply" tag, I will be posting a warning at the beginning of the chapter the warning applies for. However, please know that there will be themes of dissociation throughout the story, as well as references and depictions of other canon-typical traumas (such as Kakashi's father committing suicide). Obito is handling the aftereffects of Madara's influence for an entire, and will more than once wonder if this is truly reality. 
> 
> Additionally, there are references to child abuse in this story. This is not graphic or shown explicitly and mostly implied or mentioned in passing. This will not have a warning at the beginning of the chapter, as I don't believe it to be enough to warrant one. If it is ever shown, I will include a warning.
> 
> You have been warned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry about the writing style this is told from Obito's pov and he has some stuff going on up there
> 
> [Title is from Centuries by Fall Out Boy]

_Faster!_ He screams internally, pushing his body to move as fast as he possibly can. _I have to go faster!_

He’s aware of the Zetsu currently wrapped around him telling him they need to slow down. They need to stop and regain their sense of direction. They need to _stop._

Somewhere deep inside him, something tells him that if he slows down then he’ll be far too late.

He doesn’t know what it is, but it’s so strong that he decides to listen to it.

“Don’t worry about it,” He finds himself saying quietly, despite his breathlessness. He’s unsure of what exactly he was saying, and isn’t registering the words until _after_ they come out of his mouth.

This isn’t what shinobi did. This isn’t what _Uchiha_ did. They are supposed to be smart and patient and unemotional.

They are supposed to be logical and analytical and _not run emotionally compromised in a direction that may or may not be right to face who knows how many enemies._

Obito finds that despite knowing all of that, he just doesn’t care. He was never a real Uchiha - at least, not as far as his clan saw it - and he hasn’t been a shinobi since that fateful mission to Kannabi Bridge.

The only thing he has left to live for is his team. Minato. Kakashi. _Rin._

“I know where we’re going.” He says, only partially aware that that’s _true._ The only thing he’s aware of is increasing in speed. It’s the only thing that matters.

He _does,_ and he doesn’t know how. He’s just aware of his only eye throbbing slightly and his feet hitting the ground over and over again and the wind in the face and that _I just need to be fast._

He bursts into the clearing and doesn’t stop.

The Uchiha were always fast - both in mind and body - so that with his dōjutsu means he’s able to analyze the scene in front of him quickly.

Rin and Kakashi are there, and Obito spends half a second thanking every single being that might be out there for that. Rin is clutching Kakashi in a strange way though, as if she’s struggling against an invisible force. Kakashi’s supporting her best he can without taking his eyes off the majority of the enemy, and is speaking to her but Obito is too far away to register the words.

Surrounding them are countless Kiri-nin. Obviously enemies.

They’re the ones Obito goes for.

Zetsu wraps himself around Obito tightly as they charge into battle, twisting the weird white branches over Obito’s face to protect his head.

Obito was always considered to be a failure. He was never a genius. He was pushed away by his clan. He was rejected for his academic and physical inabilities. He took too long to awaken his sharingan.

And it’s all true - he’s not a genius. He’s a reject who was below average. He was too emotional. He couldn’t think things through. He’s _weak_ by shinobi standards.

Added with the fact that he had undergone severe physical trauma, he should not have been in any condition to do anything.

But he hadn’t spent all that time in the cave wallowing. He had been practicing to adjust to his new, mismatched and patchwork body. He had trained and fought and _adapted._

Because if the Uchiha were anything at all, they were _fierce._ They fought fiercely, and loved twice as much.

In the cave Obito had gripped the memory of his team with all the ferocity of a true, pure-blooded Uchiha and, with a stubbornness typical to his clan, refused to let it go.  
  
With that, his awakened sharingan, and Zetsu’s help, the Kiri-nin did not stand a chance.

He’s only partially aware of Kakashi throwing a kunai to the ground as he stabs through the last two Kiri-nin with Mokuton branches.

Adrenaline and emotion are whirling through his brain so much that it doesn’t quite feel like reality. He’s just killed more enemies than he thought he would have to fight and their blood is cooling on his hands and his mind is only repeating _Minato-Kakashi-Rin_ on loop.

Suddenly, Minato’s there, standing protectively in front of Kakashi and Rin, eyeing Obito warily. He arrived as fast as ever, the proud bearer of the title of Konohagakure’s Yellow Flash.

Rin seizes, grabbing blindly onto Kakashi with desperation and pain clear on her face as she falls to the ground. Obito reflexively takes a half-step forward, real thought still not coming to him yet, and stops when Minato holds out a kunai defensively.

Something stutters to a halt in his mind, and it suddenly sinks in that this is _real._ His team is right there.

“It’s fine sensei,” Obito can just barely hear Kakashi say. “I’ll watch him. Help Rin.”

Minato turns toward Rin, kneeling next to her and angling himself so that he can still keep his eyes on Obito and he’s _there_ and _alive_ and the emotions are so high that Obito can’t bring himself to say one _damn word_ even though it’s all he wants to do.

“What happened?” Minato asks seriously, checking over Rin carefully.

Rin. _Rin._ His first ever friend. His only real one. She was the only one who gave him the time of day and never saw him as a reject. She never laughed when he exclaimed his dreams and never tried to beat the happiness and emotion out of him like the Uchiha elders did. She respected him, she _befriended him._

He will never be certain when his affection for her grew into love. It took him a long time in the beginning to learn that it had.

After all, he had never had a real friend before her. He initially just thought it was just the feeling of having one.

“She was taken by the Kiri-nin. I rescued her, but she said they did something to her. A seal or something.” Kakashi quickly explained in an emotionless manner, not taking his eyes off of Obito.

Kakashi. _Kakashi._ His childhood friend and self-proclaimed rival that deep down underneath all his bravado and false arrogance he had always wondered if he would ever be on the same level as. The boy who he forced out of the darkness and loneliness that the shinobi life forced on him. The one who now held a sharingan identical to his own because it had been _his,_ but in what he thought were his last moments he gave away.

His old almost-enemy who now is, quite literally, his other half.

He’s forced out of his musings and slight dissociation but Minato hissing in surprise. “They put the damn _Sanbi_ in her.” He says, before swearing in a very uncharacteristic fashion.

Kakashi’s eyes widen, and flicker away from Obito before coming back as he remembers the possible threat he holds, “She’s a _jinchūriki?!_ ”

Minato nods, and Obito can just see him going over the seal carefully. “They purposely made the seal faulty. They probably wanted it to break when she got back to Konoha.” He looked at Kakashi‘s back seriously. “How much do you trust your friend over there?” He asks, angling his head slightly in the direction of Obito when Kakashi looks at him.

Kakashi is silent for a moment, staring at Obito. The Uchiha’s sharingan is not active, but still Obito feels it him slightly, as if reminding him of the bond he shares with the Hatake in front of him.

He doesn’t know if Kakashi feels it too, but the boy adopts a strange expression momentarily before masking it up. “He saved our lives.” Kakashi says simply, “If anything, he doesn’t want to see us dead.”

Minato nods in understanding, before looking at Obito. Deadly seriousness and a dangerous aura that could only come from a strong killing intent radiated around him, as if reminding Obito that he is _Minato Namikaze_ . _The Yellow Flash of the Leaf._ The one who can kill armies single handedly and slay you without you ever knowing he was even _there._

Those thoughts _do_ flash through Obito’s mind, but so does the familiar one of _sensei._

He wants to reach up and pry off the makeshift mask Zetsu made in the battle, but he’s somewhere between sobbing out of pure relief and hardcore dissociation to the point where it’s impossible to move his hand.

“A powerful Mokuton has the ability to surprise a tailed beast.” Minato’s voice rings clearly, a twinge of dangerousness in it to assist the killing intent. If Minato was a stranger to him, Obito would probably be frozen in fear. “Are you willing to hold it long enough so I can fix her seal?” He continues, looking at Obito through narrowed eyes.

 _Yes. Of course. Anything for Rin._  He wants to say, but he’s still too choked up to do anything but nod. It takes every ounce of his willpower to place his hands together in the sign of the snake. _“Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu!”_ He says firmly, because the smothering binding technique of wood release is the only one the Zetsus taught him that can effectively bind an enemy, so it will have to do.

Wood comes out of the ground, wrapping around Rin’s unconscious to hold her tightly down but still allow access to her seal. Obito’s heart twinges, but his resolve holds.

Minato gives him a grateful nod, lessening the killing intent slightly as relief flashes through his eyes. “Kakashi, watch our backs.” He orders the jonin. “I won’t be able to stop once I start.”

There are no enemies in sight, so it takes Minato’s words to remind Obito that they are still deep in Kirigakure’s territory, and Kiri was an enemy of Konoha, and that the war had not ended while Obito was trapped underground.

Sure enough, enemy-nin arrive. Obito watches Kakashi dispatch them, quickly and cleanly at first, but soon it gets to the point where Obito has to divert all of his energy in holding Rin down as she seizes and spazzes while Minato works.

The worst is when she starts snarling in a way that can only be the bijuu inside her, cursing and swearing and threatening them all through the mouth of a girl who was kind to everyone except those who opposed her.

_If Minato-sensei doesn’t do this, then the seal will shatter. The Sanbi will be released, and Rin will die._

Obito has to repeat it over and over to himself, as his heart wants nothing more than to release the Mokuton and put an end to Rin’s apparent suffering.

It helps tremendously, but does not ease the strain of holding the jutsu so long while all the chakra of a _Tailed Beast_ hits up against it.

And eventually, there are far too many enemies for Kakashi alone to handle.

And Obito’s closest.

“Zetsu!” He manages to cry out through teeth that are gritting together with the effort. He’s extremely thankful that Zetsu understands quickly, as the creature unwraps its tendrils that are protecting Obito’s head, It stabs out, hitting the two Kiri-nin that were behind him and about to attack in the neck, killing them instantly.

He’s aware in his peripheral vision of Kakashi freezing at the sight of him. He’s detachedly aware that he must be a sight - a presumed dead chunin with one eye, patchwork skin, long hair, and a creature wrapped around him that should be white but is covered in too much blood to really tell.

“Keep fighting, Bakashi!” Obito yells, as the Hatake blocks a strike sloppier than normal. He sees Minato tense up at the sound of his voice and the familiar nickname, but he is too focused on holding the Mokuton to really fully process it.

It’s so _damn_ hard and draining. It’s a style that he’s not used to and he is only managing to hold it up against the bijuu because half of his body is literally _made_ for it.

“Seal!” Minato yells after _forever,_ and Rin stills. The voice that is hers but _not_ quiets, and Minato slumps to the ground, exhausted from what must have taken meticulous chakra control and extreme focus.

Obito releases the jutsu, and falls to the ground, completely drained. “Thank you, Zetsu.” He whispers as the creature silently detaches from him. It doesn’t reply - or if it does, his head is throbbing too much for him to hear it.

He lies there for what was in reality only half a moment, but to him an hour. He’s been caught between the edge of life and death before, so he knows he’d only be being dramatic if he compares this complete and utter _exhaustion_ to it, but he wants to.

“Obito!” He hears Kakashi yell, as he blinks wearily to try and fix his blurred vision.

“Kakashi?” He asks dumbly, his mind moving sluggishly. He’s pretty sure that that’s Kakashi’s figure standing over him, saying words that are just too muffled for him to hear.

Suddenly he’s being hoisted up with tenderness that he didn’t expect from his old teammate. He wants to weep at the feeling of human touch with such power that startles him, and the only thing stopping him is lack of energy to do so.

Sharingan meets sharingan, and he knows even through the fog that fills his mind that Kakashi is not planning on letting him go no matter how much he insists he can stand on his own.

Which is good because he _knows_ he cannot.

He teeters on the edge of consciousness, unable to make it over but not quite aware. He grips Kakashi like he’s his lifeline, nausea racing through him. “I…” he slurs slightly and realizes he has a million different ways to end that sentence and a thousand more ways to start it better.  
  
“You idiot,” Kakashi murmurs, but there’s only relief in his voice. He holds Obito slightly tighter, and Obito blinks again and suddenly realizes that Minato is right there next to them, holding Rin carefully.

He looks up at his old sensei. “Minato-sensei…” he whispers.

Minato’s eyes flicker to him, and he smiles softly. “Don’t worry, Obito. Rin will be alright.”

Obito nods slowly, thankful Minato can detect what is on his mind. He knows his sensei probably holds so much more he wants to say, but knows Obito is in no state for anything else.

He slowly becomes more aware as they move, reality returning as wells as that dull feeling that _this can’t be real. This is too good to be real_.

It’s not long before Minato calls out for Kakashi to stop so they can rest. The boy hesitates before letting Obito slide out of his grasp.

He’s just gotten his balance when Kakashi grips him in a tight hug. “I thought you were _dead_ , you idiot.”

Obito returns it just as tightly, relishing in not only the human contact, but also just the comfort that _Kakashi is here, he’s alive and he’s here._

“I thought I was dead too.” He confesses, and his legs shake slightly. Kakashi helps him to the ground and doesn’t comment for the first time ever on the tears leaking out of his lone eye.

It would be hypocritical after all, as Obito can see the ones in both of Kakashi’s.

Suddenly there’s a hand on his shoulder, and he looks up to see his sensei, who beams brightly at him and pulls him into a careful side hug. The man does not say any words, but none need to be said.

Obito will have to explain what happened, warn them about Madara, describe how he lived, but…

But they are still in enemy territory. But Rin is now a jinchūriki. But Obito _just_ got back.

So, it can wait.

For now, at least. Not for long.

They rest for awhile before moving again. Obito moves on his own, but Kakashi sticks close by like a guard dog. Minato carries Rin, trusting Kakashi and Obito to protect him while he carries the last member of their team that is complete once more.

They eventually make it back to friendly territory, but are forced to stop due to the sheer exhaustion that haunts them all. Obito’s still recovering from overusing Mokuton, Minato used a lot of chakra in fixing Rin’s seal, and Kakashi has had to fight countless enemies with one eye that’s constantly draining his energy.

And that’s not even counting the simple _emotional_ factor.

So they stop. Obito doesn’t sleep despite his weariness - he doesn’t need to, thanks to the cells implanted in him. He just needs time to recover.

He does, however, allow Kakashi to curl up next to him without another word. If it were any other situation, Kakashi would rather die than do so, and Obito would tease him endlessly, but…

But that was before the fateful Kannabi Bridge mission. Before Obito practically died and Kakashi had a sharingan.

Before they were two halves of the same whole.

Rin is put next to Obito, resting between him and Minato. She is protected, and will come to no more harm if anyone on the squad has anything to say about it.

Minato volunteers to take first watch, and no one contests him.

Obito doesn’t _need_ sleep, but he does anyway. He basks in the warmth of Kakashi on one side and Rin on the other.

And for the first time since he woke up in the cave, he actually feels alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sweats* can you tell I have no idea how Minato's Hiraishin no Jutsu works because I don't


	2. i lost my mind and i lost my soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I heavily edited the tags, by the way. They've been moved around and I added some and removed some. The one of "slow burn" is hesitant because I'm still not entirely sure how long this story is going to be, or the concrete direction the KakaObiRin is going to go with how the plot is planned out. Guess we'll find that out together.
> 
> **Added a tag for dissociative themes.These are present in not only this chapter but probably the rest of the story. A year alone with Madara in a cave after losing half of his body in a rockfall did some things to Obito. You have been warned.
> 
> [Title is from Not Giving In by Imagine Dragons.]

Obito cries when he sees Konohagakure again.

Rin does not wake on the journey back to the village, so Minato is still carefully holding her body when they arrive. He assures them that this is normal for a recently sealed jinchūriki, especially considering the strain the faulty seal had on her body. She’ll be up soon enough.

It eases Obito’s worry slightly, but he’s too high on just _emotion_ to be truly at ease until he personally sees her awake. His thoughts are moving faster than the lightning and are wrapping around him so tightly he can barely breath, and he has to keep repeating to himself that _this is real, it’s not a crazy dream, I’m not in the cave I’m here and in Fire Country and I’m alive and so are all the others._

The guards at the gate of Konoha yell when they get close, and don’t recognize Obito. Obito doesn’t recognize them either, but Minato does, and assures them quickly in hushed tones that Obito is an ally, not a threat.

Obito is, of course, separated from Kakashi and Minato quickly and taken to the Torture and Investigation Department. He hears Kakashi protest with a fire of rebellion in his eyes that is atypical for the boy, but the fire dies slightly when Minato puts a hand on his shoulder and says something to low for anyone else to hear.

Obito, for his part, complies easily. He’s too emotional and wrapped up in his own mind to really argue or fight, and when he does get on somewhat stable ground mentally he’s content with being pliant as long as it means he _never has to go back there again._

He doesn’t see Kakashi or Rin again for a week. He can sense Minato’s familiar chakra nearby several times, however, and the knowledge that his sensei - because Minato still is sensei, even if Obito hasn’t been his student for a long time - is watching over him eases his worries.

He’s questioned thoroughly, to not only ensure he is actually Uchiha Obito, but also that the story he says is true.

He doesn’t complain once about the conditions of his stay or the hostile look because _anything_ on the entire damn world is better than that cave with all the Zetsus and that creepy statue and his presumed-dead ancestor.

He lets them test the plant cells without complaint, and repeats himself so often that he gets a headache. He allows himself to undergo what feels like thousands of tests and procedures.

In return, he learns he was gone for an entire _year._

The whole experience in Torture and Investigation is a large smudge in his memory. He was too dissociative and emotional to really process much, and doesn’t even register it when Minato comes in and kneels down next to him and helps him out of the department and into the sunny village until he’s squinting at the sunlight and the chatter of a village hits his ears.

It’s warm and friendly and loud and bright and  _real._

_It’s all real._

He cries again, as shamelessly as the last time. Minato wraps him up in a tight hug and whispers soothing words in his flesh ear and he’s _alive_ and in _Konoha_ and-

“Where are they?” He asks suddenly, every single nerve in his body tense and alert and _demanding_ to know where his teammates are.

Minato smiles, but there’s another hidden emotion there. One Obito might have been able to detect if he had been around real people for the last year, rather some synthetic creatures and a distant insane and thought-to-be-dead ancestor. “They’re at the Hatake Compound.”

Obito nods and thanks his sensei quickly before he turns and _shunshins_ to the familiar grounds. He’s been here so many times and each and every time comes rushing back the moment he sees it.

He doesn’t even reach the door before it’s being thrown open from the inside. A body hurts itself at him and he just has enough time to remember that Kakashi probably sensed him due to the seals around the compound before he’s being wrapped in a fierce hug.

Rin’s there, her arms wrapped around Obito and holding him with all the strength in her body. She has her head buried in his neck, and in a few moments she is openly sobbing.

Obito gives a second or two to surprise, before he’s wrapping his own arms around her. He holds her tightly, and relief blossoms in his chest.

“I thought…” She whimpers into his shoulder. “You were _dead_ , Obito. _I saw you die.”_

And suddenly, there are tears flowing down Obito’s own cheeks. He’s detachedly aware that he’s already cried today - within the last _ten minutes_ \- but he pushes that thought away as soon as it pops up. It doesn’t _matter._ It’s not important whatsoever.

He’s fine with being “Crybaby Obito” for the rest of his life if it means he never has to be separated from them like that again.

Kakashi is also present, and this time the boy has enough emotional control to keep himself separated from the tight embrace of Obito and Rin. He’s currently hovering, however, clearly just as thrilled as Rin to see him once more.

“Oh, come _on.”_ Rin lets go of Obito with only one arm - the other one is firmly holding onto him, as if she has the fear that if she’s not holding him, he’ll disappear again - and uses it to grab Kakashi and pull the emotionally stunted boy forward.

And that’s how their three man squad ends up hugging and crying on the steps to the Hatake Compound. They’re broken and damaged and each hold a monster inside them of a different nature, but none of that matters because they’re _there._ They’re alive and _together._

_They’re alive and together and it’s real._

The sun eventually starts going down, because the world keeps moving no matter what happens. Time keeps marching forward, even if you’re stuck in a cave and unaware of the world outside of it.

Kakashi leads them inside, and Obito is surprised to see that Kakashi already has three bedrolls set up in the main room of the house. He opens his mouth to comment, but Rin shoots him a look. “You really didn’t think that we’d make you go back to that empty house, did you?”

Oh. Right. His grandmother peacefully passed away in that year he was gone. As a kunoichi, her reputation was as an assassin that was never really there - an untouchable, untraceable killer. It was fitting, in Obito’s mind, for her to die in her sleep rather than to an enemy. Only death itself could catch a shadow, after all.

The Uchiha clan would obviously not revoke his status of outsider and reject, especially now that he had a mismatched body and only one eye. That removed returning back to the Uchiha District as a whole from the equation.

The only other place he had left to go was a quiet, empty house with probably a thick layer of dust and memories of a woman who spent her retired years taking care of some reject kid who couldn’t even unlock his sharingan.

He doesn’t ask why Rin’s also sleeping there - he doesn’t need to. The pieces fall into place easily enough.

None of their team ever liked Rin’s mother. She’s a disrespectful civilian drunkard who both Obito and Kakashi strongly suspected raised more than just a few harsh words against her daughter.

Not that Rin ever gave any indication of anything - the iryō-nin in training hid her pain behind kindness and bruises behind her capability with manipulating medical chakra. Both him and Kakashi had seen Minato take her aside multiple times, but the girl would smile and shrug as she always did and brush off concern.

Honestly, Obito is relieved to his core she finally got out of such a poisonous environment.

Rin’s father had been better, but he had died when she was young. He was also a civilian, with dark hair and a kind smile and the same purple markings that Rin’s face bore. He had been a shinobi in his youth, but had to retire due to a wound that no healer could ever fully fix. He had died of a freak heart attack when he was incredibly young, leaving Rin to fend for herself and Obito to always wonder what possessed him to settle down with a woman such as Rin’s mother.

Rin became an iryō-nin because of him, Obito knew. She said as much on their first day as a team, when Minato invited them all to share information about themselves.

Obito also knew that the only reason Rin’s mother let her follow her dreams was in the hopes that the daughter would die in the oncoming war.

Kakashi says nothing to indicate he heard Rin’s words, instead moving quietly passed them and into the kitchen. Rin gestures for Obito to claim his bedroll - the middle one, closest to both of them, he realizes - while she rummages through a bag by her’s. He sits down, and is content with just soaking up the atmosphere. Soaking up being _alive._

Kakashi arrives back in the room with a tray of hot drinks, and carefully places it down between all of them. He’s wearing a black eyepatch, Obito notices, over the sharingan in an attempt to minimize wasted energy.

Obito subconsciously reaches up to touch the fabric covering his own empty eye socket, and is vividly able to remember that fateful day that ended with his newly-awakened sharingan in his comrade’s eye.

“Aha!” Rin finally exclaims, startling Obito out of his thoughts. She pulls out something and plops it into Obito’s hands.

It’s familiar but foreign. It’s his but…it’s his from a different time and place. It’s _his_ but a different _him -_ a younger, more innocent one that hadn’t been marred by the harsh world of war around him.

“You…kept these?” He whispers, shocked as he carefully examines the old pair of goggles. They’re worn where he remembers them to be, and his fingers trace over the scratches, easily recalling the cause of each one.

“Of course,” Rin says, smiling as she leans next to him, almost as if physical contact is the only way to assure herself that he’s actually there.

He nearly cries again on the spot.

They drink the hot beverages that Obito recognizes as a sweet hot chocolate that he had always preferred, and Obito has to avoid thinking about how much it hurts his stomach. Apparently with this body, while sleeping was optional, eating and drinking were _prohibited._

He can easily see himself having to puke this up later as he drinks, but was too busy simply reveling in their presence with the familiar taste to care. He closes his eye, and for just a moment, he’s able to convinced himself nothing’s changed.

But the moment has to end, and he has to open his eye to face the world once more.

Eventually, they have to sleep. They’re all tired emotionally and mentally.

Well, except for Obito.

He finds himself lying, stubbornly awake in the bedroll. He had slept sparsely during the week, but mainly out of boredom than exhaustion. He doesn’t properly _get_ tired - at least not in the way that requires sleep.

He gets up with all the stealth of a shinobi, extremely grateful that neither Rin nor Kakashi stir. He loves being in their presence, especially after that year alone, but if he has to lie there any longer in full consciousness he’s going to go _insane._

He doesn’t want to, but he silently leaves the room so he does not wake Rin or Kakashi.

It’s just...he’s spent a _year_ in that cave _._ He can’t sit still for so long after all of that.

That’s how he finds himself sitting serenely on the steps of the house that has once again turned into a home. The night air is cool around him, fresh in a way that he had forgotten. The wind blows and his longer hair flies up and hits him in the face to remind him that a year is a _year._

He tucks the long strands behind his ears, and looks at the night sky. The stars glitter like shards of broken glass and the sight of it after so long takes Obito’s breath away. The moon’s bright, and is either disappearing from the sky after reaching its peak or is about to become full in a few days.

The drink sloshes in his stomach uncomfortably, as if reminding him that it won’t digest. He ignores it for awhile, but eventually it brings nausea. As if it knew he was thinking of it, it suddenly rises and snarls within him, until he’s hunched over puking on the grass everything he had consumed.

Eventually, his body has gotten rid of everything it deemed foreign, and he’s sitting there with shaky legs and coughs and tries not to look at what he just threw up because it will make it sink in that _he can never eat again unless he wants to puke it up right after._

He falls back on the grass, staying highly aware and far away from what he just expelled. The wind brushes over him once more and the only sounds he can hear is his breathing and the rustling of trees.

No matter how different he is, at least he’s alive, he reasons. Alive and _home._ He’d throw up a thousand times to avoid going back to that _damned_ cave again.

He lets his mind drift to Madara, something he had been trying to avoid for awhile. He had, of course, told the full and uncut story to the people who questioned _(interrogated)_ him. He lets himself wonder slightly about what they would do with the information, before pushing it aside. Minato-sensei and Hokage-sama were not fools, he knows, and they will act wisely upon the knowledge he granted them, whether he’s kept in the loop or not.

And, for the first time in his life, Obito is just _fine_ with being out of the loop. Especially since-

Suddenly there’s the sound of many strange footsteps against the floors of the deck of the compound, and he is just about to sit up when suddenly there’s a _dog_ on top of him.

“What the-” He’s started to say when the dog barks twice loudly, and then turns and gives him what can only be a _disapproving_ look and he realizes there’s no way this dog can be anything but a summon.

The Inuzuka’s are known for their summons, but that just doesn’t make any sense, so why-

“You absolute _idiot_. _”_ He hears a voice that can only be Kakashi’s say, and he cranes his neck as best he can to see Kakashi there. He’s maskless which makes his face seem that much more _fragile,_ especially with how pale it looks in the moon’s glow. There’s a look on his face that’s some kind of cross between anger and relief, and it only adds to the fragility.

(He’s seen Kakashi’s bare face before, of course. The boy had had it covered since just after Obito met him as a young child. He only would take it off if he had to, and if only their team was in visual range, because Rin and Obito have known him for basically forever and Minato is _Minato-sensei,_ their leader and teacher and the only father figure Kakashi has left.)

The dog leaps off of him without a command needing to be said, and he sits up. “What?” He asks, bewildered. He can see Rin dashing through the open door of the Compound without taking his eye away from the silver haired boy in front of him, and something about the look on her face makes it click moments before Kakashi has to say it.

“Rin woke up,” Kakashi says simply, narrowing his eyes. “And so did I. We woke up and _you weren’t there.”_

_We thought it was all a dream._

_We thought you had left us again._

_We thought something bad had happened._

_We thought you were_ **_gone._ **

Kakashi says none of these things, but Obito still gets the message perfectly.

He’s frozen, somewhere stuck between _apologizing_ and _explaining_ and he internally curses whatever god out there deciding to make him so _emotional_ that he can’t think straight.

Kakashi’s nose twitches minutely, and his eyes snap over to somewhere on Obito’s left. “You threw up.” He states emotionlessly, but his mouth twitches downward in concern slightly.

Obito lets out a long breath, and soaks in the last bit of night air.

Will they accept him, he wonders, when they realize he’s not fully Uchiha Obito anymore? He’s, at best, only half of the boy he used to be.  
And that was only counting physical wounds. He’s self-aware enough to know his mentality has changed quite a bit since he was that cheerful boy with _two_ bright eyes and no idea what a Zetsu was. He’s been beaten down and bent and gotten so dangerously close to losing hope during that year that he doesn’t even know if Uchiha Obito would recognize him.

“I…” He starts off uncertainly, before making the words pass through his lips. “My body was destroyed in the rock fall. It was replaced with this special artificial material.”

They already know that, but neither says a word. They can both tell he’s not finished yet.

“But it came with...side effects.” He continues, “I...I can’t eat or drink. My body rejects it. I can only sleep on occasion. I didn’t mean to worry you guys!” He adds on hastily, his voice quickening. “It was just that I couldn’t sleep and it was dark and _boring_ and I just spent so much time in that cave that I just…” He falters, looking at them for a few moments before looking back at the sky above him.

“I just needed to see the stars again.”

_I needed to assure myself that the world still exists._

His voice cracks. No one comments on it.

There’s a few moments of anxiety-filled silence, but then there’s a blow on the back of his head that came from Kakashi and both of his former teammates are sitting down on each side of him.

“You can be a bit stupid sometimes, Obito.” Rin says, smiling at him, and Obito doesn’t need to be a master of body language to understand the depth of her and Kakashi’s words and actions.

_We accept you._

“Yeah, _dobe.”_ Kakashi chimes in, “If you wanted to camp out tonight, all you had to do was ask.”

_And we’re here to help you through this._

They’re aligned in a tight, neat little row of three. Connected, bonded, _inseparable._

A girl who was forced to be a jinchūriki in hopes to be used as a weapon against the people she had worked her entire life to learn how to save.

A boy who’s first memories of the world were of whispers if _dishonor_ and _seppuku_ and forced himself to tuck away unnecessary emotions in hopes to not repeat the mistakes of his clan’s bloodstained past.

A boy who had always been rejected by his family and pushed to the outskirts where he was forced to learn to hide the pain of _not being accepted_ and _not being good enough_ behind brash words and his big dreams.

A kindly girl with purple markings and brown hair and a seal on the back of one shoulder that betrayed the fact that there was a demon inside her that she might have to fight for control with for the rest of her life.

A quiet, reserved boy with pointy silver hair and mismatched eyes who hid behind a mask because he knew firsthand that the world was far, _far_ too cruel to go out completely exposed to it and all of it’s horrors.

A broken boy with long, uneven black hair that hung loosely and only one eye to go along with his horribly scarred and deformed patchwork white and caucasian body that was not and might never be truly his own.

They were so _different,_ but not really. They had known each other for as long as they could remember. There was a bond between them that could never truly be broken. Sure, it had been cracked and dulled and strained and soaked in blood and anger and trauma, but it was still there. _They_ were still there.

They were still alive, even if they just barely managed to hold onto this life. And now that they had it, they would grip it tightly and refuse to let it go.

At least, not without one _hell_ of a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obito loves sweet foods and drinks sorry I don't make the rules
> 
> Also, if Obito's inner emotions seem out of character or too much, keep in mind that he's currently battling his clan's infamous Curse of Hatred, as well as Madara's brainwashing. His mind's very messed up because the Uchiha in him is conflicting with the Uchiha Obito in him. The sharingan messes with the mind, and that added with all that happened to Obito right after he awakened it...doesn't make for an ideal situation.
> 
> (Would be a shame if it got worse before it got better, wouldn't it?)


	3. and as the world comes to an end, i'll be here to hold your hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some personal headcanons of mine make an appearance. They had to because someone decided to kill off a bunch of these characters in canon so I had to make my own material. Thanks, Kishimoto.
> 
> [Title is from King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men]

Time blurs by in a whirr, and Obito can only remember the next few days in _moments_ rather than days.

But it’s the moments that really matter, he rationalizes to himself.

(Besides, he’s hardly the first shinobi with post-traumatic stress disorder. If that’s what it even is - he hadn’t paid much attention to it in classes.

That had been a different him. One that thought he was invincible and that the world couldn’t even touch him, much less _scar._

Very different from the scarred boy he was today.)

There are moments like when he stands up one day and realizes that he is, without a doubt, much taller than Kakashi, even with the boy’s hair sticking up in that stupid point. He subsequently teases Kakashi about this with taunts that _almost_ come naturally. It’s not completely there but...it’s a start.

Or like when Minato has to carefully cut and even out his hair, because Obito felt _highly_ uncomfortable with a stranger that close to him. Close to his _scars_ and inconsistent body - so close where they might _ask._ He keeps it pretty long in the end, though, deciding that it was the one part of his new self that he was actually comfortable with.

Moments like when Rin teaches him how to tie his hair back in a braid, and when they both realize that Kakashi is a rather talented hairstylist and they nearly spend the entire night forcing him to give them utterly ridiculous hairstyles.

Or when he decides he’s finally ready to see people outside of the clinical shinobi of Torture and Investigation or his close team again, because he can’t avoid them forever.

Especially with Rin being his new self-proclaimed caretaker of both his mental _and_ emotional health.

Like seeing Kushina again, and having her wrap her arms around him with all the strength of Konoha’s Red Hot Habanero to the point where she _lifts_ him off the ground as she yells in a mix of anger because _how dare he make her think he was dead_ and relief because _thank Kami you’re alive and here you bastard don’t worry me like that again._

Or maybe the moment where he realizes that Kushina isn’t the only one that missed him outside of his team.

There’s the moment where he has to meet with Uchiha Fugaku, because regardless of his place as a pariah in the clan, he still bears the name, and still has to meet with his clan head after coming back to life in the eyes of Konoha.

Or there’s the moment where Fugaku gives him a nod of respect after all the official business of coming back from the dead is over.

Or when his wife Mikoto hugs him and whispers in his ear that no matter what other Uchiha might say about his decision to give Kakashi one of his sharingan, it was _his_ decision and _his_ eye and if they have a real problem with that then they should take it up with _her._

Or when he sees their son Itachi, the one with a sharp mind and kind but sad smile who asks him about war and life and deep questions kids his age aren’t even supposed to be aware of when his parents aren’t around.

Obito is surprised, of course, but smiles and answers him honestly; he speaks of how the war was horrible and what happened to him was traumatizing but helped him realize that life was ultimately worth living, and that it was okay if he didn’t want to _fight_ but at the very least he should learn how to _live_ because _the world is so beautiful but you won’t truly realize it until it’s gone, so don’t take it granted for a day, Itachi-kun._

Or perhaps directly after, when he catches a glimpse of Shisui. The boy lights up visibly when he sees Obito, and bounds forward to give him a big hug. It’s a childish action, but Obito isn’t fooled by it and can easily see the maturity Shisui holds inside him. They can’t talk long, because Obito has to go, but he finds time to pray to whatever deities are out there that Shisui is able to at escape whatever curse their clan is under.

Because while he does, despite himself, hold love for his clan in his heart, Shisui is _different._ Shisui ignored the clan elders and hung out with Obito, ignoring his status as a reject. He asked Obito questions because while he was a natural genius at being a shinobi, the Uchiha clan absolutely _failed_ at teaching emotional skills. And even though Obito was only slightly older and clumsy and foolish, he still knew _compassion_ and he knew of _love_ and he could teach Shisui of respect and loyalty without talking of violence or blood or physical strength.

There’s the moment when he finds out about Kakashi’s dog summons that he was able to acquire by being unofficially adopted by Inuzuka Tsume after he saved several puppies from drowning in a river by the training area.

Or when Rin finally tells him the story of how her mom kicked her out for not being _enough_ and being too much like her _idiotic bastard of a father except for being cold and dead like him_ which she _deserved to be,_ and how she went crying to Minato’s house. How Kushina and Minato opened their door to her quickly basically adopted her in everything but law, since her mother never _technically_ disowned her and Rin refused to cause any trouble legally.

The moment when Rin tells him that she decided to ultimately move in with Kakashi instead of Kushina and Minato, because after everything they couldn’t leave each other because _without you we only had each other, so we had to stay together._

There’s the moment when his old classmates show up, bringing smiles and some small presents and each one welcomes him back just as warmly as the last, not faltering when they see the scars on his face and not rejecting him when they see that half of his body is not like most.

Or when he spars with his teammates the same way that they used to, and he learns that Rin has gotten very adept at taijutsu, and Kakashi at ninjutsu. However, neither are very experienced with Wood Release, and so it’s only the fact that Obito isn’t really either that saves them from being overwhelmed quickly.

But now, time is different. It’s stopped and stuttered and returned to normal.

Right now, it’s frozen.

Or rather, _he’s_ frozen.

He’s in the Hokage office with sensei and the Hokage and his mind is unresponsive, uncomprehending.

Because no matter how long has passed, of _course_ he hasn’t forgotten about Uchiha Madara, or Zetsu, or the cave where he spent a year trapped. He hasn’t forgotten about that creepy tree or the whispers of how _this world isn’t real, young Uchiha. This isn’t the true reality._

He hasn’t forgotten the collection of the lowest points in his entire life, no matter how much he wishes he can. And he does - he wishes it with every fiber of his being.

But _remembering_ and _reliving_ are two completely different things.

He turns to look a Minato. His sensei’s face is serious and carefully devoid of emotion, but not _surprised_ per say. He’s doubtlessly been expecting this, been _discussing_ this.

And since his sensei doesn’t look overly disapproving or worried and is not currently raising any protests, Obito sighs. He’s been suspecting this too, deep down, but has been content with denying its existence altogether since he returned.

And since Minato-sensei isn’t objecting, and he trusts the man with his life, with his _extremely_ fragile sanity _,_ he knows he has no choice but to agree.

Yet still…

He takes a deep breath, before looking down. “I understand but…” He closes his eye and something inside him is stopping him from forcing the words out. Too scared. Too anxious.

Too  _weak._

Suddenly there’s a hand on his shoulder, and he opens his eye to look up at the blonde Namikaze. His sensei flashes him his usual kind and warm smile that always heals some of the wounds deep in Obito’s heart. “Kakashi and Rin would accompany you, of course.”

And Kami knows what a _blessing_ it is to hear those eight words.

“Really?” His chest lightens at the possibility that had seemed too far away for him to really hope for, but close enough that he had still dared to bring it up. He then frowns slightly, “Even though...even though Rin is now a jinchūriki?”

The Sandaime and Minato share a look. It’s quick and calculating and Obito isn’t skilled enough to read it.

“If she would like to, she can.” The Sandaime says, blowing out a puff of smoke from his pipe, before explaining, “Konohagakure does not restrict a jinchūriki from going on missions unless it is believed that they might be targeted for that reason, or that they do not have control over their bijuu.”

“Young Nohara Rin’s status as a jinchūriki is limited to your team, myself, and the other jinchūriki of Konoha, so there is no reason to believe she will be targeted.” He adds, and Obito has to force away the thoughts that _that is only true because I slaughtered everyone else that knew in an emotional haze._ “Additionally, the jinchūriki of the Kyuubi has been working with her, and has already stated that she displays an impressive control over the Sanbi, despite her lack of a helping kekkei genkai.”

 _Other jinchūriki?_ He can remember talks of the Kyuubi jinchūriki being in Konoha, but only now that he’s reminded of it. There’s a familiar tick in him at the thought of it, something that bugs him but lies just without of reach.

Is he forgetting something?

He pushes the thought away for now, aiming to mull over it later. “I’ll do it,” he tells the Hokage, and, remembering the manners his grandmother drilled into him, he bows his head respectfully. “Thank you for believing my tale, Hokage-sama.”

And time resumes.

Minato escorts him out of the Hokage’s Tower and back to the Hatake Compound, before inviting all three of them over for dinner at his and Kushina’s place. They obviously accept instantly, all of them knowing too well how mouthwatering any meal made by the fiery Uzumaki will doubtlessly be.

(If Obito didn’t know better, he’d _swear_ it was a kekkei genkai. No _way_ anyone can cook that well without some bloodline help.)

The dinner is bright and sunny as ever but it still fails to drive out the tendrils of darkness creeping their way back into his mind at the mere discussion of returning to _that place._

The fact that he doesn’t remember his current relationship with eating until they step into the apartment doesn’t help.

Thankfully, Minato (and doubtlessly Kushina, if her lack of calling out Obito and making a scene is anything to go by) seems to attribute him doing little else than pushing around his food to the conversation he had about the future mission and doesn’t comment. Kakashi, however, watches him like a hawk and Rin sends more than a few concerned (and slightly guilty) glances his way. He doesn’t address them, unsure of how to convince them that his inability to eat isn’t their fault.

It’s _not_ , but apparently it had been a requirement that Team Minato’s members _had_ to be self-blaming and stubborn. Obito, while reckless, doesn’t want to start this fight of where the blame falls. Not now, and not here.

And with little else to do, his mind has nothing to distract it from remembering his year in _that cave._

That prison of stone and wood where death lingered at every single corner, held back only by the will and determination of two Uchiha who _refused_ to leave things unresolved. One out of loyalty to Konoha and the people who reside there, and one out of loyalty to their own destructive interpretation of life.

They’re on the walk back to the compound when Obito impulsively decides to tell them, and stops.

Rin and Kakashi only go a few more steps before the kunoichi stops and looks back, realizing he wasn’t just slowing his pace or was momentarily distracted. “Obito?” She calls, her voice gentle and slightly concerned.

He lets out a breath and jams his hands into his pockets. He’s not wearing his old blue and orange outfit - he hasn’t since _that day._ He’s wearing a simple dark blue jacket with the standard mesh shirt under it and the typical long black shinobi pants.

He doesn’t know if he likes it or if he’ll keep it. He doesn’t really know who he _is_ anymore.

Is he Uchiha Obito? Maybe. But not the Uchiha Obito that the village once knew. That his two friends standing across from him right now knew.

“I met with Hokage-sama this afternoon.” He tells them, and _damn it,_ why is this so hard to say? He couldn’t say it earlier, and it’s even harder to spit it out now.

“About?” Kakashi prompts, moving closer slightly as he looks over Obito with a normal but still incredibly observant eye.

He takes a breath, “There has to be a mission to check out...the cave where I was being held.” He forces himself to say, and even though his voice gets quieter, it doesn’t break or crack, so he counts that as a victory. “Of course, I’m expected to go.”  
No words are immediately said, but Rin is instantly closing the gap between them and wrapping her arms around Obito. Kakashi lingers close by, because even though he cares just as much, he’s not really a physical contact person.

Obito accepts the hug gratefully, even if he has to force himself to not tense at the physical contact, and closes his eyes as he reminds himself that _Madara was wrong, this world is real, they are right here, everything is fine, why are you still holding doubts?_

“Hokage-sama said that you guys can come with me, and-” He starts as soon as Rin loosens her hold on him.

“Maa, of course we are, _dobe.”_ Kakashi lightly whacks him on the back of the head, finally willing to show his personal brand of comfort. “We’re teammates, aren’t we?”

Rin nods adamantly in agreement, “You aren’t getting rid of us anytime soon!” She declares firmly, and Obito knows far too well that Rin has enough stubbornness to rival an _Uchiha_ to back up her words.

“Guys…” He starts, not knowing how to put into words how grateful he is to know that he won’t have to go back there alone. Because without Rin and Kakashi, it would be _alone_ , no matter the amount of shinobi that accompany him.

Rin merely flashes him a smile and Kakashi shoves him before walking past them both, “Come on. Tsume-san will kill us if we’re late. We promised to visit the new litter, remember?” He says casually.

Understanding. That’s what they all have. Complete and utter understanding. Kakashi and Obito might be quite literally two halves of the same whole, but in actuality they’re _thirds._ Because Rin cannot be excluded. They aren’t a duo, but a trio.

Kakashi hadn’t broken completely when he found his father. Obito hadn’t given into his ancestor’s whisperings of a false world and dreams that would last forever. Rin hadn’t surrendered herself to the Sanbi that now lurked inside her.

No, they all dug their heels in, took the blow, and _kept moving._ They were fractured, cracked, flawed.

But they hadn’t been broken yet and weren’t planning on anytime soon.

And for the first time since this afternoon, Obito finally could breathe easily, no longer worried that the mission he was to embark on him would drag something inside him into the dark too far to ever return.

And the mission still comes. They still have to prepare and pack to go into enemy territory and fight one who claims to be and probably is _Madara Uchiha,_ the enemy of the _Shodaime_ Hokage _._

It’s the first time Obito’s been out of the village since he’s returned, and it’s hard but it’s also _frustratingly easy_ because he’s gotten more used to being away from the village than in it in the last year.

Kakashi’s on his right, and Rin’s on his left. Minato is in front of him, with Kushina faithfully at his side. There are other shinobi around him - ANBU - and Obito reminds himself that he _will_ see Konoha again, and _soon._

Obito isn’t too focused on the way out of Fire Country, as he’s a bundle of nerves and apprehension. He doesn’t completely freak out ever though, because whenever he’s close to falling too far into his thoughts Kushina’s suddenly there, boisterous and cheery. Or Rin’s there, talking excitedly about the latest litter of puppies the Inuzuka clan got and bugging Kakashi about all the details, because _somehow_ the boy became a dog _expert_ in a year.

It’s not until they get to an all too familiar clearing that Obito’s forced to _really_ snap himself out of his own mind and get a grip on reality.

Minato gives him a nod, completely serious but also pleasant and encouraging as he says, “Lead the way, Obito-kun.”

Obito nods, and takes a deep breath, before taking the lead.

He had been so emotional that day. He had been panicked to hell and back and ready to do _anything_ to ensure that his two comrades would make it back to Konoha alive. He had only been led by a fierce determination, Zetsu’s strength, and the powerful bond between sharingan pair split between him and a certain gray-haired jonin.

He shouldn’t remember the way back to the cave.

But his sharingan had been active the _entire_ journey from there to the clearing, and there was more than just good memory that allowed his clan to master and memorize moves swiftly.

With a recall unique to his clan’s signature dōjutsu, he summons forth the memory that’s burned into his mind, and a path visible to only him comes out. He leads the way deftly, trying to think less of the past and more of the present.

Uchiha Madara is incredibly old and doubtlessly holds disadvantages because of that, but he also is _Uchiha Madara_ \- a name that still brings chills to Konoha shinobi decades after his apparent death at the hands of the Shodaime.

And all too soon, Obito has to stop.

He turns to look at Minato, and uses every ounce of self-control he has to keep his voice emotionless.

“We’re here.” He says, as he looks into the place that can only be described as his own personal hell.


	4. test my reality check if there's a weak spot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Title is from Make a Move by Icon for Hire]

Unlike most of what is currently happening in his life, Obito remembers what ensues with great ease.

He wishes that that is not true.

But he doubts he’ll ever forget the sight of Madara stabbing Rin through the chest, or the sudden rush of fear and surprise in her eyes as blood forces its way out of her mouth, or the sound of her body as it falls limply to the floor.

On the contrary, he’s pretty sure he now has something new to join his nightmares for the rare times he can sleep.

_ “Rin!”  _ He had screamed her name with every fiber of his being. Then there had been a burning in his eyes and pure  _ power  _ flowing through his body, mixing and weaving with his chakra in a way he had never felt before.

That is how he discovers several things.

One, that the Kiri-nin had been manipulated by Madara himself to kidnap Rin and place the Sanbi in her, as well as a small, undetectable slave seal.

Two, the mangekyō sharingan isn’t necessarily caused by killing someone you love, just by their death.

Three, not even Uchiha Madara stood a chance against the combination of his and Kakashi’s mangekyō sharingans, Mokuton, and Chidori.

Four,  _ thank Kami for Minato-sensei. _

“Hold her down!” He yells the order to Obito, dropping to his knees next to Rin’s bleeding body. “Hawk, Kushina, with me. Kakashi, make sure Madara is dead. The rest of you -  _ stay on guard.” _

“Sensei…” Obito whispers, voice full of despair. He just feels  _ empty.  _ He’s back in this place - this  _ prison  _ \- and now  _ Rin is dead.  _

This is hell. It has to be. He thought this was real but  _ how can this be real if Rin is dead? _

_ “She’s not dying while I’m here!”  _ Minato shouts, cutting through his thoughts like a well-aimed kunai. His voice is full of an energy and determination that most would apply to Kushina before him. 

Minato’s own brand of perseverance and stubbornness is usually much quieter than his wife’s, and much more specific. It’s typically reserved for research and studying, but that did not mean it is  _ weaker.  _

And it cuts through his thoughts and re-grounds Obito in reality.

“Hold her down,  _ now!” _

As if in a dream, he presses two shaking hands together.  _ “Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu.”  _ He whispers, defaulting back to the smothering binding technique. He doesn’t have Zetsu’s help this time, so it’s even harder.

But if it’s the only way to save Rin’s life, he’ll be  _ damned  _ if he fails.

He’s barely aware of the world around him. Minato is saying something to Kushina, who is sitting next to him, but he can’t hear it. There’s movement on his peripheral, and then there’s the familiar chakra of the Sanbi.

He doesn’t have the time or excess concentration to spend wondering what the Namikaze and Uzumaki is doing. He just grits his teeth and holds Rin in place as the bijuu inside her threatens to take control.

But he’s not  _ enough.  _ He’s…he’s  _ slipping. _ Uchiha may not have close to as much chakra as clans such as the Uzumaki, but they have quick recovery time. It’s a necessity, with the sharingan. But he’s exhausted, and his reserves are too depleted from the battle prior. He…he’s not going to be able to-

A hand on his shoulder, and he tenses and nearly loses concentration. But then there’s a surge of chakra in his system, and the Mokuton  _ holds.  _

It’s still a bit flimsy, still on the edge of success. There’s hope now, though, and maybe if Obito can last just a little longer-

A second hand, on his other shoulder. More chakra joins his system. The Mokuton strengthens.

And it’s  _ enough.  _ More than enough, actually.

It feels like it takes hours. The chakra in his system diminishes, and, while anxiety-filling and definitely takes a few years off of Obito’s life, it’s so slow that it doesn’t matter.

Minato collapses next to Rin. The ANBU member he had called to his side before now fills the cavern with a green glow as they get to work healing their sensei. 

The hands on both of his shoulders let go, and Obito falls without the additional supply of chakra.

But strong hands catch him, and he sees a familiar face when he looks up.

“Tomoko-san?” He asks wearily. The adult kunoichi was a high ranking member of the Uchiha clan. She was Mikoto’s sister, he recalled. So how was she…

_ Oh,  _ he thinks, as he registers her ANBU clothing. So she had been the ANBU Fox that had accompanied their team out of the village. 

She carefully sets him on the ground, before sitting down with a huff herself. She’s exhausted, Obito realizes, from giving him a good portion of her chakra. An ANBU to his side is leaning against the wall, panting slightly, but they have their mask up so Obito cannot identify them.

The chakra reserves of three people, combined with the notably quick recovery time of at least two Uchiha.

_ That  _ had been enough.

He struggles to sit up, as the muscles in his arms are too weary to properly respond. “Rin!” He calls desperately. Hope has wormed its way into his chest and now holds his heart like a vice. If she didn’t make it…

He looks over, and is greeted with the sight of Minato lying on the ground. He looks battle-worn - cuts and bruises from the previous fight are visible, and there’s blood seeping through gashes in his clothing. Not to mention he looks drained, as if he just found a way to give every last drop of his chakra and energy away.

Minato slowly manages to give him a weary smile, and Obito allows his arms to slip out from under him.

He stares up at the ceiling of the large cavern, his back against the cool, worn stone. His breathing is quick from exertion, rattling his frame, but Obito’s too relieved to care. 

The cave is...the same. The number and pattern of stalactites on the roof of the cave are exactly as he remembered, having counted them repeatedly over the course of the year. It’s all the same.

But it’s not. Or, rather,  _ he’s  _ not. 

He’s not that scared boy, scarred and horrified and confused and one wrong move away from  _ snapping  _ completely and giving into the twisted words of an ancestor that should have died long ago.

Because he had been  _ so close.  _ His low points had been him pounding on rock bottom with bloody fists and desperate screams. He had been so close to breaking and just...giving up on the world. Denouncing it as reality.

Only the thoughts of those up on the surface had dragged him up and forced him to stay standing. 

Thoughts of Minato’s bright smile and fierce intelligence made him commit to getting better. Memories of Kakashi’s familiar words, however scathing or insulting, and gracefully deadly attacks helped him stay cemented in  _ this  _ world. Recalling Rin’s promise to watch over him and her skilled medical skills drowned out Madara’s words.

In a way, he supposes, Team Minato - his team - had left him down here. Abandoned him.

But more accurately, in his opinion, was that they had  _ followed him.  _ Saved him.

Tomoko stands and holds out a hand, and he takes it. He stumbles, but holds his balance.  _ He _ holds.

Kakashi holds something up. Obito can just recognize it as Madara’s head. He has to admit that that’s a pretty effective way to ensure that the Uchiha is dead.

They make their way back to Konoha - bruised, battered, but  _ alive. _ He’s barely awake, leaning heavily on Tomoko who supports him without another word, her ANBU mask back in place. Kushina’s carry Rin, fierce and determined to carry the kunoichi by herself. 

Minato gives a quick explanation on how he was able to save Rin. He had loosened her seal, allowing more of the Sanbi out but also more of the Sanbi’s healing factor and chakra. Kushina and Obito helped to control the Sanbi while the bijuu and an ANBU medic (Hawk) worked to heal her torn body.

It was a risk, one with a much higher chance of failure than success and really required a miracle, but Namikaze Minato is enough of a determined genius to  _ make  _ a miracle.

“I swear,” Minato sighs, rubbing his face tiredly before looking at Kakashi and Obito with a good-natured smile. “You three are trying to make me retire early.”

“Maa, maa, I can’t be the only one on the team with gray hair,” Kakashi said, with a straight face. 

Obito shook his head. “I’m in a genjutsu. Or hallucinating.” He muttered just loud enough for them to hear. “Don’t tell me you found your sense of humor  _ just  _ when I left. You’re doing this just to spite me, aren’t you?”

_ I left.  _ A lighter way of saying  _ You all thought I was dead but in reality I was being held prisoner in a cave by plant people and Konoha’s first ever missing-nin after he turned me into a science experiment.  _

Yeah. That would damper the tiredly humorous atmosphere a bit.

They all stay at Minato’s that night since Rin  _ technically  _ needs to be under twenty-four-hour surveillance to ensure her seal is fine. Kushina and Minato are two of the best seal masters Konoha has, and Obito’s mokuton is one of the few things that can reliably hold a bijuu, and Kakashi is  _ Kakashi _ \- a remarkably talented genius fighter, to put it simply - so it works.

Minato and Kushina only have two extra bedrolls, but Obito and Kakashi wordlessly push them together, and the couple knowingly does not comment. While Kushina checks over the seal, Minato passes both Obito and Kakashi a mug. 

Obito takes it, ignoring both his instincts and Kakashi’s (worried?) stare, and thanks his sensei quietly. Minato looks between them quickly, obviously sensing something under the surface, but Obito ignores him and grabs the extra mug. He goes over to where Kushina is carefully placing Rin in the center of the bedrolls, finished with checking her over.

He passes her the mug, and she eyes it warily. “Did Minato-”   


“Kakashi watched him, I think, and he’s drinking it.” Obito assures her, quickly recalling Minato’s misadventures when unsupervised in the kitchen. Kushina peers carefully over Obito shoulder, before, apparently satisfied, she takes a sip. She doesn’t grimace, which he takes as a good sign and his gaze shifts to the brunette resting peacefully on the ground. “How is she?” He asks softly.

He hears Kushina sighs, and suddenly there’s a hand on his head, ruffling his hair before wrapping around him in a half hug. He’s able to retrain a flinch, but he can’t stop his body from tensing and reflexively grabbing the arm. Some of the tea nearly spills.

He suddenly realizes what he’s doing and quickly let’s go. “I’m-”

If he didn’t know what a skilled kunoichi Kushina is, he would have thought the woman didn’t even notice. But Kushina simply doesn’t outwardly react and keeps her arm around him. “She’ll be fine. Her body’s drained from the Sanbi, but she’ll recover soon enough.” 

Obito nods. The contact is strange, as he’s still getting used to physical touch after being without it for a year, but...it’s not bad. 

Kushina leads him back over to Kakashi and Minato as if it’s all perfectly normal. Obito’s suddenly hyper-aware of the drink in his hand, as he’s forced to confront Kakashi’s unabashed stare once more.

He stares at the tea as Kushina relays Rin’s status to the others before something in his mind just says  _ screw it _ and he goes to take a sip.

Then a gloved hand lashes out, quick as lightning, reaching for the drink. He panics, and reflexively activates his mangekyō. The mug falls through his hands and Kakashi catches it, but stumbles through him.

He materializes, staring at Kakashi in surprise as the boy regains his balance. Some of the tea has spilled, but neither pay it any mind.

“Woah woah  _ woah.”  _ Minato quickly moves between them, clearly not understanding the situation. 

“What the  _ hell  _ Bakashi?!” Obito has a pretty good idea  _ why  _ Kakashi lunged, but...why did the boy care so much to react like  _ that?  _

Kakashi scoffs, “Are you an idiot? You know what this will do to you.” He says in a tone that suggests that if he couldn’t care less about Obito when all of his actions thus far say otherwise. He then looks at Minato, “Obito can’t eat or drink in his condition. It gives him pain and he’ll puke it all up.” 

Minato looks between them in disbelief, before he sighs and runs a hand through his hair as he gets out of his battle stance. “Kakashi, I appreciate you bringing this to my attention and your concern for Obito, but, next time, can we please settle this less...dramatically?”

Kakashi rolls his eyes. Well, only one is visible, but Obito  _ knows  _ he rolled both.

“And Obito,” Minato turns, and Obito impulsively takes a step back. His fight or flight response is screaming at him to do the latter, but his body decides it needs a third option and freezes instead.

“It’s fine,” he blurts out, unconsciously tucking his right arm behind his back in an effort to hide it’s unnatural whiteness, even though it’s completely covered by bandages and the long sleeves he’s wearing. “It’s really okay.  _ I’m _ okay. Great, in fact.”

It’s a complete lie, so blatant and desperate that no one seems to have the heart to call him out on it.

“Bullshit.”

Well, except maybe Kakashi. 

Kakashi pushes past Minato. “You  _ aren’t _ okay.” 

Obito isn’t exactly prepared for  _ that  _ blunt of a callout. He looks over Kakashi, “Well, neither are you.”

“What?” 

“You aren’t sleeping,” Obito presses, “and when you do you have nightmares all the time. You pick over your food when you actually do eat. You stick to me or Rin all the time, watching us like a hawk. And when it’s not you, it’s one of your summons!”

“Obito-” Minato starts, but Kushina elbows him in the ribs and whispers something into his ear. Neither boy pays them any mind.

“And what of it?” Kakashi challenges.

“What of it? You’re obviously not fine either!” Obito nearly shouts.

“That’s different.” He brushes off, before preparing his next attack. “You-”

But Obito isn’t planning on giving him any ground. “How is it different?!” 

“Because I’m worried about you, damn it!” Kakashi snaps. His voice is at shouting level, and Kakashi  _ never  _ shouts. The sound of it alone freezes Obito, and the admission makes him take a step back.

“Wh…” Obito looks at him in confusion and surprise. Those words…he never expected Kakashi to just  _ say  _ them.  _ “What?”  _

Kakashi looks at him for a moment in disbelief, before shaking his head and looking down. “You  _ died _ , Obito.” He said in a quiet voice, which somehow has a bigger effect than him shouting. “You were  _ dead  _ and it was just me and Rin and then you came back and then  _ Rin  _ was dead and…” he looks up. “I can’t lose either of you. Not again.”

_ I can’t lose anyone else. _

Obito can remember Minato telling him the story of the White Fang. The tragedy that ended with Kakashi traumatized and orphaned. That made the boy unhealthily fixated on following the rules.

Obito looks at him for a moment in silence, his head swirling. “I-”

He’s cut off by the sound of someone shifting. Kakashi moves past him wordlessly, heading over to where Rin is. Minato follows, and a hand claps onto his shoulder.

He’s too out of it to physically react and looks up at Kushina, who gives him a smile. “Come on, slowpoke.” She says, letting go and walking over to Rin. Obito wordlessly trails behind her.

Rin is awake. She tries to sit up but lets out a low groan and allows her body to collapse back on the bedroll. She’s exhausted and drained but she’s  _ awake  _ and  _ alive  _ and that’s enough for them all. Minato softly explains what happened, but Obito might as well be in Wind Country with how little he hears.

He hasn’t spared a thought about how Kakashi must feel about everything. He knew his death would doubtlessly have an impact, but be never thought it would be  _ that _ big. He didn’t think the boy cared that much.

But, honestly, Kakashi had that tone in his voice that suggested he was so  _ close  _ to breaking. Obito knows that feeling well and can recognize it anywhere. 

He looks at the boy, who’s hovering around Rin. Far enough to allow others to be close and to not be outwardly overly concerned, but close enough to keep a sharp eye out and not miss anything.

And maybe Obito is going to just have to re-evaluate Kakashi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Nohara Rin Lives" is a tag, isn't it? Don't worry - this is a slow burn. I can't kill off a third of the main relationship. Yet.
> 
> Minato's reaction was due to a train of thought I had. I mean, we all know how traumatized Kakashi was by Rin and Obito dying, but what about Minato? He loses two of his students who he obviously cares for, but also both happen on missions where he isn't present. He has to deal with forever wondering if he could have saved them if he had just been there.
> 
> So here Minato is sick of nearly losing his students to things beyond his control and just refuses. I hope you enjoy this reaction from him, because it was incredible to write and I really enjoyed creating it.


	5. and even if you're scared, you're stronger than you know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***WARNING: This chapter contains an explicit panic attack, major dissociation, slight self-destructive behavior, self-deprecating thoughts, and borderline suicidal thoughts. You have been warned.
> 
> [Song is Something Wild by Lindsey Stirling]

With Madara gone, there’s really nothing left to distract Obito from his situation.

There’s now an entire future ahead of him - one that he had been convinced had slipped from his grasp - and it’s _there_ but he doesn’t have a damn idea what he’s going to do with it.

He really wishes it can be as simple as showing up at the training grounds one day and the rest of the team is waiting for him and he can scratch the back of his head awkwardly and apologize because _sorry, but there was this old woman who needed help carrying her groceries._

But it’s not, because he had gotten a bit too lost on the path of life for anything to be that easy anymore.

He stares down at his right hand. The stark whiteness of it sticks out even in the dimness of the apartment. It’s ugly and artificial and just completely _wrong._

He suppresses the urge to growl as he curls it into a fist, and just barely managing to stop himself from slamming it into the ground. He lets his head fall against the wall he’s leaning on and closes his eye to count to ten as he forces himself to loosen the fist.

When he opens his eye, they fall upon the two figures lying a few feet away.

Initially, Kakashi and Rin were _extremely_ aware of Obito’s presence and woke as soon as he tried to slip away. After a few light arguments, the pair _somehow_ trained themselves to only wake up if Obito actually left the room. He had no idea how either of them did it so quickly but agreed to the compromise.

_“I can’t lose either of you. Not again.”_

_Kami,_ what effect _had_ his death had on Kakashi? On them all?

While in the cave, he had thought a lot about what they were all doing back in Konoha. He played over memories of watching them train and work together on loop. After training together, he imagined Rin training in the hospital to perfect her iryō ninjutsu, Kakashi going to practice his kenjutsu skills alone, and Minato smiling as he entered a bright home to greet Kushina after they both had a long day of work.

He had thought about them _._ Of course he had. That was the only reason he hadn’t broken like a twig and submitted to Madara’s will.

He had just never thought about how _he_ affected had _them_. What he meant to them. Because why would he? He was just a reject of an esteemed clan. Surely he couldn’t really mean anything to anyone.

Of course, that didn’t mean he had been completely self-deprecating. He merely was realistic about his own status and had thought that the only way to really _mean_ something to the village and its residents was to become Hokage.

The only time he had really faltered in those thoughts had been when Rin looked him in the eye and saw the seriousness in his words and smiled and encouraged him.

_“Go for it Obito!”_

He had faltered and stuttered and fell in _love._ Not instantly, of course. At first he was just completely and utterly _ecstatic_ that someone in the village hadn’t just not rejected him, but also _accepted him._

Rin was kind and compassionate but she was also stubborn and could (occasionally) be as easy to read as Obito. She never treated anyone as anything but an equal. She sometimes wore her heart on her sleeve but when she did she showed a heart of _gold_.

Her infatuation with Kakashi had hurt.

Originally it was just Obito being too greedy. He was annoyed with Rin spending so much time over a boy who didn’t even give her the time of day when she was literally the one one that would give _him_ the time of day.

Then he had slowly gained a crush on the kunoichi, and it had turned into jealousy that she looked at Kakashi that way instead of him.

And Kakashi? His relationship with the boy had been an entirely different mess. Driven by jealousy, he had fought countless times with him. But it wasn’t just jealousy from Rin, it was also jealousy that Kakashi was seemingly admired by everyone in the village.

He knows _now_ that that was a stupid way of thinking, even if Kakashi’s father’s situation wasn’t…

No one was loved by all. Everyone had enemies, especially shinobi.

But still, something inside him always drove him to work harder so he could stand next to Kakashi as an equal. He just had wanted to be _acknowledged_. Not just by his team or his clan, but also from Kakashi personally.

And then the rockfall happened and now he has no idea where he stands with anyone in his life.

Kami, he’s messed up, isn’t he? If he had just been better, tried a little harder, practiced more, then none of this would have happened.

Kakashi wouldn’t worry about losing those around him constantly. Rin wouldn’t be a jinchūriki. Rin wouldn’t have _died._ Minato wouldn’t have to work with three traumatized kids, struggling desperately to help them in any way he could. If he just hadn’t been a complete and utter _screw-up,_ then everything would have been okay. Everyone would have been happy.

He shouldn’t have come back. He should have just died back in the cave. They might have still been hurt, but they would have picked up the pieces and been better off in the long run. Kakashi wouldn’t have to watch over him. Rin wouldn’t have died _._

He doesn’t notice his breathing has increased until his lungs are struggling for air. His chest feels tight and his entire body is trembling violently. He panics, convincing himself that he can’t feel his right side, and the last time _that_ happened was when he had been hit by that boulder. He reaches up and wraps his hands in his long hair, tugging.

Pain. Pain is good. Pain means he’s alive.

_But what right does he have to be alive?_

Someone’s there, calling his name. He can’t see them, for his eye is clenched tightly shut. He doesn’t remember doing that, but the sound makes him shut it tighter. He wraps his arms around his knees before regaining his grip on his hair.

_Obito?! Can you hear me, Obito? Obito, if you can hear me, please give me a sign._

He pulls tighter. He unconsciously lets out a whimper.

_Kakashi, get sensei-_

_I’m here. What-_

_We found him like this. I think he’s going through a panic attack. I don’t know what to do!_

The words are rushed and panicked and _loud._ His head is pounding and he just wants it to stop. He just wants everything to _stop._

He should have died. _He should have just died._

Someone places a hand on his shoulder. He flinches and draws himself tighter.

 _“Don’t touch me!”_ He snarls, his eye shooting open and his chakra flares. The hand is suddenly gone, but his head is still buried in his legs so he can’t see anyone. He can’t feel anything anymore. The floor beneath him is gone and so is the wall at his back.

He finds himself glad that the hand is gone and wishing for it to return with equal intensity.

_Obito. It’s fine. We won’t touch you. You can deactivate your mangekyō._

He had activated it?

He’s in a haze, but he forces his eye shut again. It takes a few moments, but he can eventually feel the wall at his back and the floor underneath him with his shaking body.

_Obito, listen. You’re in my apartment. It’s me, Minato. Rin and Kakashi are also here. You’re okay. You’re in Konoha and you’re safe._

Safe? He’s not _safe._ How could any of them be safe? They’re at war. Madara’s out there. _He’s_ here. He’s cursed and he’s among them. No one is safe.

_Can you take some deep breaths for me? Please, Obito?_

Breathing. His scalp is burning and his body is shaking so he’s definitely alive (even though he _shouldn’t be)_ , and if he’s alive then he needs to breathe.

He doesn’t want to. He just wants to disappear. But his lungs are demanding it of him and the tone of his sensei’s voice is so pleading that he has to try. He tries to take a slow inhale, but it’s still too fast and not enough. He exhales quickly and takes another quick inhale.

_Just like that, Obito. You’re doing great. You can do it._

_It’s okay Obito. You’re okay. We’re here._

Rin. _Rin._ Rin and Minato. They both sound so desperate. They both _care._

 _Kami,_ he can’t disappoint them anymore.

He tries harder. It works to some degree. He’s still breathing too fast, but it’s better.

Except now his lungs are telling him that he’s not getting anywhere near enough oxygen. They’re shouting at him that he’s suffocating even if no other part of his body is giving any indication.

_Obito!_

A sharp yell, cutting through the haze.

Kakashi.

_You’re getting enough oxygen. You’re fine. Just breathe deeply. Your mind is playing tricks on you. You’re fine._

He hates Kakashi. Well, to put it more accurately, he _had_ hated the _idea_ of Kakashi. Everything about him had always screamed of talent and genius and just _shinobi._ He had become a jonin before he was even close to puberty.

But he also trusts and likes and cares for Kakashi.

So, he listens. He focuses on breathing slowly, subconsciously loosening his grip on his hair and forcing some of his tightly wound muscles to relax.

It feels like hours before he gets his breathing fully under control. He’s slightly light headed, but he doesn’t let anything drag himself back to hyperventilating.

He keeps his eye closed. He can’t open it. What if he’s just hallucinating? What if this is all some elaborate trick, and once he opens his eye he’ll only see some Zetsus looking down on him? Or Madara? Or just the ceiling of the cave?

He couldn’t handle that.

Rin’s there, gently asking for him to open his eye. To relax and rejoin them.

How can she ask that? How can she possibly want that?

This must be a dream. Rin doesn’t want him to return. She’s too smart for that.

 _“No.”_ He murmurs, drawing himself again tightly. _“I can’t.”_

_Why not?_

_“Because this can’t be real.”_ He finds himself saying, despite himself. Why is he showing this weakness in front of Madara? He’s so _stupid._

 _It is, Obito. This is real. We’re right here. Just open your eye. It’s me and sensei and Kakashi. We’re all right here. Can you please look at us?_ _  
_

_“No!”_ He cries out. _“This can’t be real. I won’t help you, Madara. I won’t help you hurt them!”_

_Your name is Uchiha Obito. My name is Hatake Kakashi. We’re on a team with Nohara Rin and Namikaze Minato, who are both currently present. You’re a chunin of Konohagakure. We’ve been...we've known each other since childhood. You and Rin would sometimes come to my house for dinner. Your favorite color is orange because you like how the sunset shines on the Hokage Rock. You choked on a candy you got from helping an old lady during the chunin exam. You once forced Rin and me to help you find the owner of a lost cat on our day off and led us all around Konoha until you realized the cat was just a stray._

A beat of silence. The sound of someone regaining their breath.

_Does Madara know all of that?_

He stays silent.

 _No._ The answer is _no._ There’s no way Madara could possibly know all that. He’s a bit surprised _Kakashi_ even bothered to remember all of that.

 _“You promise you’re real?”_ His voice is quiet and weak. He’s weak.

If this turns out to be a trick from Madara, this will surely break him.

_I promise, dobe._

But it can’t be.

He opens lifts his head tentatively from where it’s buried in his knees, and hesitantly opens his eye.

He sees it’s match.

 _This is real._ He forces himself to think. _This is reality._

Kakashi’s there. Rin’s there. Sensei’s there.

They’re _here_ and they’re _real._

He shoots up, extending his arms as far as he can and attempts to sloppily capture them all in a hug. Physical contact is still slightly jarring, but he _needs it._ Needs to assure all of his senses that this is real.

Minato catches him when he slips on feet that have fallen asleep and legs that have cramped up. Rin gratefully helps him with the hug. Kakashi clings to him desperately.

“This is real.” He says. _“This_ is real.”

No one interrogates him on what exactly happened - what had caused him to enter such a state. They hug for a bit, and eventually Minato leads them all over to the couch, where Rin forcibly swaddles Obito in blankets. They free his arms after a minute where he feels like he’s suffocating, but other than that, it’s fine.

She presses into his side, and Kakashi unabashedly does the same on his other side. He’s positioned differently. Slightly tense; he’s there with Obito but he also hasn’t let his guard down and is prepared to defend them against any intruder with his entire being.

Somehow that only relaxes Obito further. He has faith in Kakashi’s skills. He has faith in _Kakashi._

Minato returns with a cold towel after a moment. He gently lays it across Obito’s forehead, and the sudden sensation shocks his body into grounding.

He opens his mouth, “I’m-”

But Minato cuts him off, “If that’s an apology, I can assure you that no one in this room needs one.”

Apparently, his sensei also became a mind-reader in the last year.

“But I…” _I hurt you all. I made you think I was dead. I couldn’t protect Rin from Madara. I can’t do anything right. I can’t protect any of you._

But how can he say any of that?

“But I woke you all up.”

And if the looks on their faces are any indication, they understand what he really means.

He looks down at his lap. He can’t look at any of their faces.

Minato is there, though. He’s kneeling in front of Obito, forcing his way into the boy’s vision.

“Obito,” He says softly, looking at him with nothing but absolute caring on his face. “Do you remember the test I gave you when you first became my students?”

_Of course, how could I forget?_

“The bell test.” He says. His voice his scratchy, he realizes.

Minato smiles and gives him an encouraging nod. “The bell test.” He agrees. “And what was the purpose of that?”

Oh.

“To teach us to work as a team,” He answers softly, having an idea of where his sensei was heading with this particular train of conversation.

“Exactly. And despite everything that’s happened since then,” He pauses, and sighs, “Despite everything we are _still_ a team. We train together. We fight together. We _work together._ ” He fixes Obito with a look, “And when we suffer, we suffer _together.”_

“But-” He weakly starts to protest.

“When I became a jinchūriki, did you leave me?” Rin suddenly asks, and Obito’s head snaps to face her. She’s not looking at him at first, but she moves to steadily meet his gaze, her face uncharacteristically serious.

What kind of a question is that?

“Of _course_ not!” He blurts out.

“Why not? I was being made into a weapon to be used against Konoha. I could have broken free and killed all of you,” And there’s a haunted enough tone in her voice that suggests that Kakashi and Obito haven’t been the only one with nightmares. “By all accounts, you would have been in the right to just kill me.” Her eyes flicker away, and her tone becomes slightly far away. “Maybe you should have.”

 _“Don’t say that!”_ It’s not right. Rin shouldn’t say those things. He has already almost lost her too many times to imagine her dead anymore.

“But you saved me.” She quickly snaps herself out of whatever trance she had silently entered. “You and Kakashi and Minato saved me. And then you saved me _again._ We’re a team, and we don’t leave each other.”

“Those who don’t follow the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash,” Kakashi quietly recites behind him, and he’s stunned for a moment before turning to look at the boy. “You said that to me when I didn’t want to save Rin. You punched me and yelled that at me and left and I came to join you because you were _right.”_

There are definitely not tears in his eye. He shakes his head slowly, “Bakashi,” He says softly, a smile on his face despite himself. “You can’t even come up with your own line?”

Kakashi smiles slightly, clear by the crinkle in the corners of his eyes.

He understands the white flag Obito is waving. They all can.

“Well even idiots can be right once and a while,” He says back, no fire or insult in his voice.

And maybe it was all fine.

Maybe Obito _shouldn’t_ have died back in the rockfall, or in the cave.

There’s still an entire future ahead of him - one that he has no clue what he wants to do with.

But at least, he rationalizes as he looks at those around him, he knows who he wants to spend it with.

 

 

 _Sometimes the past can_  
_Make the ground beneath you feel like a quicksand_  
_You don't have to worry_  
_You reach for my hand_  
_Yeah I know you're gonna be okay_  
_You're gonna be okay_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for following the story! All the support is very much appreciated <3 My tumblr is @xphoenixwritingx so feel free to talk to me there.


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